Tag: Ike Nwamu

Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers fights off Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat during last season’s playoffs. (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)

MIAMI – With the 2018 draft completed, NBA teams are focusing on filling their summer league rosters.

The Miami Heat revealed their 14-man roster today for the Sacramento and Las Vegas summer leagues. The Heat begin play Monday in Sacramento and will play three games in four days. The team will hold three practices in Sacramento before the games begin. Miami then heads to the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas where its first game is scheduled for July 7. The team will play a tournament style schedule with the championship game July 17. Each team will play at least five games in Las Vegas.

The Heat roster was completed with additions of center Landry Nnoko of Clemson who played in Grand Rapids last season, guard Rashad Vaughn of UNLV and guard Tai Webster of Nebraska who played in Germany last season. The roster includes the franchise’s No. 1 pick in the 2017-18 draft, Bam Adebayo along with Derrick Jones Jr. and Derrick Walton Jr., the Heat’s two two-way players last season.

Bam Adebayo, 6-10, C, Kentucky/Heat: Adebayo showed plenty of promise his rookie year both offensively and defensively and the Heat just want him to get more experience after playing in 69 games, including 19 starts. He averaged 6.9 points and 5.5 rebounds while shooting 51.2 percent.

Dikembe Dixson, 6-7, F, University Illinois-Chicago: Dixson, an undrafted free agent, started all 72 games he played at UIC. He was the unanimous choice as the Horizon League Freshman of the Year in 2016. After suffering a torn ACL in UIC’s 10th game two years ago he led the team with 14.2 ppg last season.

Matt Farrell, 6-0, G, Notre Dame: An undrafted free agent, Farrell played four years at Notre Dame, increasing his scoring, rebounding and assists every year. He started every game his junior and season seasons and averaged 16.3 points and 5.3 assists last season.

Derrick Jones Jr., 6-7, G/F, UNLV/Heat: Jones has played 52 NBA games, 20 for the Heat (eight starts) last season and 32 for Phoenix (eight starts) in 2016-17. Last season, he averaged 3.1 points and 1.9 rebounds for Miami and played in 29 G League games with Sioux Falls and Northern Arizona, averaging 17.4 points and 7.4 rebounds.

Jarrod Jones, F, 6-9, Ball State/Turkey: Jones, 28, has spent the last six seasons playing professionally in Europe. He averaged 19.2 points and 10.1 rebounds in the top level Italian League two years ago and was in Turkey last season. He played at Ball State from 2008-12 and finished his career third on the school’s all-time rebound and blocks list.

Daryl Macon, 6-3, G, Arkansas: Macon, who was not drafted, played two seasons for the Razorbacks and was a first-team All-SEC selection by the media and second team by the coaches last season. He averaged 16.8 points and a team-high 3.9 assists as a senior. He played two years at Holmes Community College in Goodman, Miss.

Yante Maten, 6-8, F, Georgia: An undrafted free agent, Maten was the SEC Player of the Year last season after averaging 19.3 points and 8.6 rebounds and a finalist for the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year. He played four seasons for the Bulldogs.

Landry Nnoko, 6-10, C, Clemson/Grand Rapids: Nnoko, 24, was the G League’s defensive player of the year while playing for Grand Rapids last season and averaged 14.8 points and 11.5 rebounds. He is from Cameroon and played professionally in Italy after going undrafted out of Clemson in 2016. Nnoko attended the Pistons training camp in 2017 before being cut and joining Grand Rapids.

Ike Nwamu, 6-5, G, UNLV/Sioux Falls: Nwamu, 25, has spent the last two seasons with the Heat’s developmental team. He averaged 9.1 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 2016-17 and 14.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists last season while leading the Skyforce with 47 games played.

Duncan Robinson, 6-8, G/F, Michigan: Robinson went undrafted after playing three seasons for the Wolverines. He made a team-high 38 threes last season – averaging 9.2 points while starting 19 games – and shot 41.9 percent on 3 pointers in his career. Robinson transferred to Michigan after leading Williams Ephs to the 2014 NCAA Division III championship game. He was the 2014 Division III Rookie of the Year.

Justin Tillman, 6-8, F, VCU: Tillman went undrafted after averaging 18.9 points and 9.9 rebounds while shooting .557 as a senior at VCU. He was named to All-Atlantic 10 first team and was an All-Defensive Team selection. He led the A-10 in rebounding. Tillman had an impressive Portsmouth Invitational, averaging 18.3 points and 13.0 rebounds.

Rashad Vaughn, 6-6, G, UNLV: Vaughn, 21, was the 17th overall pick by the Bucks in 2015 after one year at UNLV. He has played parts of three seasons in the NBA, including more than two years for the Bucks and a handful of games for the Magic and Nets. In 139 career games, including eight starts, he is averaging 3.0 points in 12.0 minutes. He was named the Mountain West Conference freshman of the year in his only season at UNLV, averaging 17.8 points.

Derrick Walton Jr., 6-1, G, Michigan/Heat: Walton spilt time last season between the Heat and the Skyforce. He played in 16 games for Miami, averaging 1.8 points in 9.2 minutes. He played 27 games for Sioux Falls averaging 16.1 points and 7.0 assists.

Tai Webster, 6-2, G, Germany/Nebraska: Webster, 23, is a New Zealand native who played four years at Nebraska where he averaged 17.0 points as a senior before going undrafted in 2017. He played last season for Frankfurt in the German league and played professionally in Australia and New Zealand before going to Nebraska. Webster played for the Warriors summer league team a year ago.

social media

About the Author

Anthony Chiang began his writing career in Gainesville at the University of Florida’s student-run newspaper. At The Independent Florida Alligator, he covered the school’s golf, volleyball, baseball, and football teams. The Miami native has also written for the Sun Sentinel and MLB.com, following the Tampa Bay Rays.

Tom is a Heat beat writer for the Palm Beach Post. He has covered sports in Florida since 1981.